Sometimes we watch and pray for a day, or a week, or a month but then we doze off again. We get distracted by other things and let our prayer lives slip.
We can’t afford to do that right now. We must do what the Bible says and persevere in our watching. To persevere means we stick with it until the victory is won. We keep praying until the full answer manifests or until the prayer burden lifts.
When we truly persevere in prayer, we don’t settle for 50 percent victory, or 75 percent victory, or even 99 percent victory. We settle for nothing less than 100 percent victory and deliverance from darkness—not just for ourselves but for all those God has given us to pray for.
We act like Elijah did on the top of Mount Carmel. When he got on his knees in that place to pray for rain, all he had was a word from the Lord. All he knew was that God had said, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1).
Naturally speaking, things didn’t look good. There hadn’t been a drop of rain for three years and six months. Everything was dead and barren and dry. What’s more, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But Elijah “bowed down on the earth, and put his face between his knees and said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look toward the sea’” (verse 42).
Do you know what the servant saw when he looked for the results of Elijah’s prayer?
Nothing at all! But Elijah didn’t get discouraged. He just kept praying and sending the servant to look again, and again, and again. “And at the seventh time the servant said, A cloud as small as a man’s hand is arising out of the sea. … In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds, and there was a great rain” (verses 44 – 45 Amp).
Because Elijah persevered, the drought-stricken nation of Israel didn’t have to get by with just a few mercy drops. God’s people didn’t have to settle for just a little shower of blessing. They received the fullness of what God had promised—a gully-washing, drought-destroying, prophecy-fulfilling rain!
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 18:1 – 2, 41 – 46
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”